Glasgow has won a prestigious marketing award for its hosting of the World Parkinson Congress (WPC) at the Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre (SECC) in September 2010.

It was the first time the conference had been held outside of the US and it successfully attracted more than 3,000 Parkinson’s disease professionals and provided a £4.6m boost to the local economy.

Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (GCMB) and SECC beat of competition from China and Poland to scoop the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) ‘Best Marketing Award’ for the conference.

Aileen Crawford, GCMB’s head of conventions, and Ben Goedegebuure, director of sales at the SECC, said strong-partnership working positioned Glasgow as a trusted destination for conference organisers with little experience of working outside of the States. Their bid included a targeted US-campaign led by GCMB highlighting the city’s capacity, capability and financial support model.

Goedegebuure said: “Winning this award is a great honour for both our venue and our city and underlines that our desire to focus on business partnerships with our customers is the correct one.

“This is an event where the venue, the organiser, the PCO and the city all pulled together to produce something truly great; hosting World Parkinson 2010 was a privilege for everyone involved and we're delighted to have received this accolade.”

Glasgow’s win follows the publication of the latest ICCA rankings, which found that the city attracted more international conference delegates last year than Melbourne, Toronto, Boston, Bangkok, Brussels and Dublin.

More than 25,000 delegates visited Glasgow in 2010, placing the city 29th in ICCA’s world rankings – a rise of 22 places from 51st in 2009. Only London ranked ahead of Glasgow as the leading UK city.

Pictured: the opening ceremony of the World Parkinson Congress 2010